Cognitive psychology and self-reports: models and methods.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Survey Methodology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Questionnaire design significantly impacts data quality.
• Understanding cognitive processes in survey response is crucial for accurate self-report instruments.
• Existing methods for evaluating cognitive issues in surveys require systematic description and application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe cognitive models and methods for evaluating and improving questionnaire design.
• To assess the cognitive processes involved in respondent comprehension and answer generation for self-report questions.
• To provide examples of applying these methods to identify and resolve cognitive self-report issues.

Main Methods:

• Non-experimental methods: expert cognitive review, cognitive task analysis, focus groups, cognitive interviews.
• Experimental methods: cognitive laboratory experiments, field tests, and embedded field survey experiments.
• Detailed examples of designing and conducting experiments to test respondent capabilities and questionnaire effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Non-experimental methods effectively identified cognitive self-report issues.
• Laboratory experiments demonstrated how to test respondent cognitive task performance.
• Field experiments showed successful testing of cognitively designed versus original questionnaires.

Conclusions:

• Cognitive models and methods are essential for rigorous evaluation and improvement of self-report instruments.
• Both non-experimental and experimental approaches provide valuable insights into questionnaire design.
• Applying these cognitive approaches enhances the accuracy and reliability of survey data.